5u4 General Notes. [o" t 



viduals of this Goose. The right coracoid was unlike the left, and the 

 two birds differed greatly from each other in the form of these bones. I 

 have recently had the opportunity of examining the skeletons of two adult 

 males received from the New York Zoological Park. In both, the coracoids 

 are symmetrical, alike, and of normal Anserine form. There can be little 

 doubt that in Yarrell's specimens the coracoids were diseased and abnormal. 

 Furthermore, Yarrell designated the coracoids as " clavicles," and the quo- 

 tations of his description have given no hint of his erroneous use of this 

 term. 



Several other Anatine genera or groups of genera are strongly marked, 

 such as the Mergansers (Mergince), the Torrent Ducks (Merganettince), 

 the Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsince), and the Swans (Cygnina?). The last 

 two are probably the most distinct. The Swans are distinguished by their 

 bare lores, large number of neck vertebrae, very long necks, great size, and 

 wholly white or black and white plumage. 



Anseranas is in my opinion by far the most aberrant member of the 

 Anseres. None of the other groups mentioned approach it in the number 

 of unique distinctive characters, and there can be little doubt that it is 

 entitled to family rank. It is surely better characterized than certain 

 commonly recognized families of Gallina?, LimicolaB, and Psittaci. — W. 

 DeW. Miller, American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



Sarkidicrnis sylvicola in British Guiana. — I was very much inter 

 ested in Mr. Crandall's note (The Auk, XXXVI, No. 3, July, 1919, p. 419) 

 relative to the occurrence of Sarkidiornis sylvicola Ihering near Barcelona, 

 Venezuela, in November, 1918, because I had previously learned of the- 

 presence of this species in British Guiana in the same year. 



On July 12, 1918, Mr. James Rodway, Curator of the Georgetown 

 Museum, wrote me that he had just received for the Museum " a pair of 

 Ducks, Sarcidiornis carunculata, shot on the East Coas + , but hitherto not 

 recorded for the Colony." Upon my inquiry for further details, Mr. 

 Rodway, under date of September 13, 1918, wrote: " In regard to the 

 Sarcidiornis we have a pair shot on the East Coast, Dem. at Pin. Hope, by 

 Mr. W. Mearns, who saw flocks of 25 or more and killed several for the 

 table. He says they are excellent eating." In the meantime a note had 

 been published in ' Timehri ' (Vol. V, Third series, Aug., 1918, p. 168) 

 stating that, through the kindness of Mr. W. Mearns of " Hope," the 

 Museum had received a head of a male Sarcidiornis carunculata. 



It is apparent from the dates of the records that the ducks were on the 

 north coast of South America for at least five months, from July to Novem- 

 ber. So far as I know they have not been observed in Surinam. Von 

 Berlepsch (Nov. Zool., XV, 1908, p. 313), however, lists the species in his 

 ' Birds of Cayenne ' (ex Eyton). — Thomas E. Penard, Arlington, Mass. 



An Overlooked Record of the Trumpeter Swan. — In ' The Auk,' 

 Vol. XXXII, January, 1915, Mr. Henry K. Coale had a very interesting 



